From closet hymn to electro groove

Imagine a soft-spoken pacifistic huddled in a tiny closet, a guitar vertically smashed against his body, recording the definitive beginnings of Portland’s mimic electronic group Botanist. Grant Harold, the man who recorded over 100 songs literally in his closet and can read words through frequency waves heads this band, focusing his musical energy on love, relationships and the transcendence of mere instrumental sound.

On their recently released four-track EP, two of the four songs are heavily influenced by Harold’s “closet tracks.” With a varied and interesting intellectual background, Harold employs his knowledge of sound effects on the human brain to deliver a holistic mind-body experience. 

“A song is first inspired by a feeling,” said Harold, “then I try to decide which medium would best translate that feeling—with the music or the words.”

The Botanist sound is like Thom Yorke hooked up with Jón Þór Birgisson of Sigur Rós and hired Björk for beats. The secret is in their recording method. Using software typically associated with electronic music to record and play through during live shows, Botanist’s happy-go-lucky indie becomes a unique conglomeration of edgy crunch and simplistic pop riffs.

“We want it to be pretty, to have a groove, and to make you feel something,” Harold said.

Be it snippets of childhood memories or proactive anti-war sentiments, Botanist utilizes audio recordings of water and creaky boats in order to associate experiential familiarity embedded within their music. 

All members of the band have relatively similar backgrounds, gaining musical prestige through the church-worship ensembles and school jazz bands. In fact, their newest addition, drummer Graham Clement, is a recent high school graduate with allegedly impressive jazz chops, though his skills do not come out much on their EP.

Harold and bassist David Carroll—who was then living with soon-to-be keyboardist Nathan De Ceasar—met up after almost two years of cyber communication. Drummers came and went, but they finally decided Clement, though young, would fill the hole.

Harold claims their success as a band has been the result of each individual’s strong faith serving as common ground for communication and respect. Though other members of the band shy away from the term “religious,” Harold is not hesitant to attribute his lyrical influence to the love of not only his wife, but also of God.

In “Rifles Shoot Hearts,” Harold uses poetic imagery referencing an olive branch and “a bird with a leaf” in order to credit religious themes. The story behind this particularly catchy song is one of heartbreak and redemption. Though many critics believe “Rifles” captures Harold’s pacifistic worldview, Harold claimed it is the most political song he has ever written.

Behind the sadly and delicately strummed guitar, electronic beats and tasteful string accompaniment is a story influenced by (and dedicated to) the Christian Peacemakers who travel to Palestine, Israel and places in Africa and use modern video technology to peacefully protest injustices to the native peoples of those lands. In one of their videos, a brief shot of a stenciled rifle spouting out pink hearts tags the walls of some war-torn land, and thus the title was born.

On a lighter note, at tonight’s show you can expect to be uplifted, moved and swung into unstoppable motion as the catchy rhythms infiltrate the basilar membrane of your inner ear.